Winslet Says Estranged Hubbie Mendes Directing Next 007 in 2011

Receive the latest popcornbiz updates in your inbox

Amid all the (insanely boring and convoluted) financial wrangling over the future of MGM, and by extension James Bond, Sam Mendes' involvement as director seemed subject to change at a moment's notice. Now the man's future ex-wife says Bond 23 is a go.

"Sam is doing the next Bond film, all being well, and we’ll all be in England if that happens. It’s such a massive commitment for him and it’s not fair for him to commute backwards and ­forwards to New York from ­London. It would be impossible. The children will be there with me," Winslet, who is recently estranged from Mendes, told the Daily Mail.

(Why it's more fair for the kids to get uprooted from New York to London, than for Mendes to travel to visit his kids is a question to be explored elsewhere.)

Before that can happen, Mendes must first finish directing a stage version of "Richard III" for The Old Vic theater in London, where Kevin Spacey is artistic director, and then take the show to the Brooklyn Academy of Music. This all means we're still looking at fall 2011 at the absolute earliest to begin shooting.

We're not putting anything in our calendars just yet, but obviously we're pleased that plans are moving forward on a new Bond film. Though we remain underwhelmed with the choice of Mendes as director, who has done nothing thus far to convince he's up to the task of helming something like a 007 film, a third film with Daniel Craig in the iconic role has potential.

We're still holding out fanboy hope that Chris Nolan, who was openly campaigning for the job earlier this year, gets the gig.